Special note: I’m still under the weather, so this is an abbreviated recap and review.

Law & Order “Contrapasso” involved the case of a former teacher who, years prior, toyed sexually with his young female students and it came back to haunt him. Three women, one who stated she was raped by this teacher, decide to meet him at a hotel and confront him, and one of the women decides to exact vengeance by taking a knife and performing an impromptu “gonadectomy.” (This is quite a surprise for both Fin and Carisi.) This leaves the SVU and ADA Barba in an odd position; the women were wrong to assault the man, but he needed to be held accountable for the rape years prior. The only thing that made this case stand out was the impassioned closing argument by Barba (great work by Raúl Esparza) about what exactly is fair and just. Surprisingly, the man is found guilty of rape, the only proof being the woman’s word and a poem she wrote while in high school. I’m not convinced that was enough to make a case. What I don’t know – and maybe I missed it – was if the women have to answer for their attack on the teacher.

Benson also thinks she’s in the clear with the DA’s office regarding her care of Noah, but finds out from Trevor Langan that Noah’s maternal grandmother now wants to pursue custody of Noah. Benson is livid that Langan didn’t have previous knowledge that there was any relatives alive, and reminds him that the judge even fast tracked her adoption. But Langan fires back that Benson has her own resources to find out that information, which Benson counters that she can’t use those resources for personal reasons. She eventually tells him to leave her office. At the end of the episode, Sheila Porter appears at Benson’s front door. (I wonder what kind of security Benson has in her building that someone can just walk right up to her front door without being buzzed in or cleared to enter.) We know this story arc will continue, but sadly I’m not very interested in it.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Here are preview clips for Law & Order SVU, “Contrapasso” which will air on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 at 9PM ET on NBC. The videos feature Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, and Peter Scanavino.